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COVID-19: ECOWAS to improve Local Herbs

As part of efforts geared in the fight of the ravaging Pandemic,  the Economic Community of West African States is set to improve as well as develop local production of Medicines (The Traditional Herbs) .

Addressing MP's at a virtual joint committee meeting on Macroeconomic Policy and Research/Administration, Finance and Budget/Health of the ECOWAS Parliament, Mr. Mamadou Traore, ECOWAS Commissioner for Industry and Private Sector Promotion, disclosed that the need to develop the capacity for local production of vaccines in the countries is now. 

Traore stated that following the closure of various country boarder as an anti COVID-19 measure, the availability of medicines across Region was minimal. 

"When the  the countries closed their borders there was no way for us to get medicines from elsewhere, we needed to have indigenous products to use. So today we need to be able to develop the capacity for local production in the region.


"With regard to the standardization of COVID-19 protocol, the Council of Ministers will soon adopt the standards received from the International Standards Organisation (ISO), the European Union, France and the United States on face masks, sanitizers, among others" Traore added. 

He maintained that the Actualization of the regional products certification project (ECOSO) to standardize, certify and make products local product competitive and meet international standards can be achieved through the extension of support grant of Euro 121million to investors/member states by way of training and provision of necessary equipment to aid the process.

“We need to produce competitive products. There will be certification, to make them safe, usable and tested in laboratories. We are going to support countries through training and equipment. We need to give information to general public” He said.

Concluding, Traore advised the ECOWAS Council of Ministers to ensure that borders be made opened based on solid technical advice and not purely on political exigencies.


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